RC Wins Three Of Four

Wildcats Conclude Season On High Note

The Rockbridge County High School baseball team won three of its final four games, ending the year with a 5-2 home win over Valley District rival Turner Ashby on Saturday in Lexington.

The Wildcats (8-11 overall, 6-8 district) got an incredible pitching and hitting performance from senior Clay Irvine against TA (13-7, 7-7). With the win, RC avenged a 5-3 road loss to the Knights on April 22.

In the rematch, moved from last Wednesday to Saturday morning due to rain, Irvine pitched a complete game, striking out six while allowing two hits, no walks and two unearned runs. At the plate, Irvine led the Wildcats with four hits, had one RBI, and scored two runs.

“Clay had the performance of a lifetime on the mound and at the plate,” said Travis Roadcap, concluding his sixth year as RC’s head coach.

Irvine led off the bottom of the first with a single on a line drive to left field and scored from second base when Drew Potter singled on a line drive to left field.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 3-0 in the second when Trevor Hoke singled on a line drive to center field to bring home Eli Sorrells and Austin Moyers. Hoke then scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Brady Majors to make it 4-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Irvine hit a solo home run to left field to stretch the Wildcats’ lead to 5-0.

The Knights scored both of their runs in the top of the sixth when Caden Simmers singled on a hard grounder to left field to drive in Everett Johnson and Cooper Smith. After that, Irvine allowed just one hit, striking out three of TA’s final five batters.

In addition to Irvine, six other Wildcats each had one hit.

Recording one hit each for TA were Simmers and Grady Bowman.

TA’s Tyler Hill pitched the first four innings, striking out three while surrendering eight hits, two walks and five earned runs. In the final two innings, Cole Freeman struck out four while allowing two hits, no walks and no runs.

RC committed two errors, while TA had none.

The Wildcats finished the season with three more wins than last season, when they went 5-15 overall and 2-10 in the district. They’ll switch to the Shenandoah District next year, with shorter trips to face district opponents.

Among the big wins this season, in addition to the victory over TA on Saturday, was a 6-3 road win over district power East Rockingham on April 14. The Wildcats also swept the season series with local rival Parry Mc-Cluer, earning two lopsided wins.

RC Sweeps Rocktown

The Wildcats started the week by winning a home doubleheader against district rival Rocktown (2-17, 2-12) on Monday of last week. The teams played two fiveinning games, with RC winning the first game 2-1 and taking the second game 4-2.

The first game originally started on April 25 at Rocktown before it was stopped by lighting in the top of the third, with RC up 1-0 after Potter scored on a passed ball in the top of the first.

“We came out and competed,” said Roadcap. “It was kind of tough to start. A continued game is a little weird.”

The Wildcats didn’t waste time when the game resumed on Monday of last week, extending their lead to 2-0 when Irvine scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Nolan Stines in the top of the third.

The Raptors’ lone run in the second game came in the bottom of the fifth when Xavier Banks doubled on a fly ball to center field to drive in Jayden Barnard. Irvine then ended the game by throwing a strikeout.

Irvine pitched a complete game, striking out seven while allowing three hits, no walks and one earned run. For Rocktown, Cayden Lucas pitched all five innings, striking out two while surrendering four hits, one walk and two runs, one of them earned.

Recording one hit each for RC were Irvine, Austyn Gannutz and Rocky Perlozzo. Banks led Rocktown with two hits, while Barnard had one.

RC committed two errors, while Rocktown had one.

In the second game, the Wildcats scored all four of their runs in the second inning. After Gannutz and Bradi Ziegler singled, Perlozzo singled on a line drive to center field to bring them both home. Brady Majors then doubled to drive in Perlozzo, and Majors later scored on a wild pitch to extend RC’s lead to 4-0.

In the third, the Raptors cut RC’s lead to 4-1 when Lucas scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Xavier Ruvalcaba.

Rocktown scored its other run in the fourth when Barnard singled to left field to drive in Banks.

Majors led the Wildcats with three hits, while Gannutz, Ziegler and Perlozzo each had one hit. Barnard paced Rocktown with two hits.

Potter and fellow senior Brady Edwards pitched for the Wildcats. In the first four innings, Potter struck out four while allowing six hits, three walks and two earned runs. In the final inning, Edwards struck out two while surrendering no hits, no walks and no runs.

For Rocktown, Barnard pitched a complete game, striking out six while allowing five hits, one walk and four earned runs.

RC committed one error, while Rocktown had none.

Before the game, the Wildcats honored their five seniors: Edwards, Irvine, Potter, Stines and JP Welsh III.

Praising Irvine, Edwards and Potter, Roadcap said, “We got three good pitching performances from three seniors on our Senior Night, which is pretty special.”

“All of our seniors started and played the whole game,” he added.

Roadcap added that the Wildcats “had clutch at-bats” in “two very good games.”

Broadway 10, RC 2

RC suffered a 10-2 home loss to Broadway (16-5, 10-4) on Friday.

The Gobblers, who had beaten RC 8-5 on April 29 at Broadway, racked up 13 hits in the rematch while holding the Wildcats to six.

Broadway jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first, scoring four runs on four doubles.

The Wildcats answered back with two runs in the bottom of the first. Gannutz singled on a line drive to left field to bring home Irvine, and Majors singled on a line drive to left field to drive in Tyler Woods.

The Gobblers responded with three runs in the top of the third to extend their lead to 7-2 and scored their final three runs in the sixth when Josiah Crider hit a home run to center field.

Leading Broadway with two hits each were Zechariah Stuhlmiller, Colby Fesler, Jackson Plogger, Mason Caplinger and Peyton Frank. Crider and Plogger paced the Gobblers with four hits each.

Majors led the Wildcats with two hits, while Irvine, Woods, Gannutz and Hoke each recorded one hit.

On the mound for Broadway, Ty Sharpe pitched the first six innings, striking out four while allowing six hits, three walks and two earned runs. Tyler Hedrick pitched the final inning, striking out one while surrendering no hits, no walks and no runs.

For RC, Eli Watkins pitched the first out, allowing five hits, no walks and four earned runs. In the remaining 6.2 innings, Majors struck out two while permitting eight hits, four walks and 10 runs, nine of them earned.

The Wildcats committed one error, while the Gobblers had none.